Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The assemblage, a key word for Jean-Paul, makes it possible to access the Côte Rôtie of the Domaine Jamet. The variety of terroirs, exposure and the age of the vines are complementary elements that combine their strengths.
Produced from twenty parcels and essentially in whole bunches, the wine is subsequently kept in barrels for twenty-two months.

Appelation: Côte Rôtie
Geology: Mainly various types of schist
Grape varieties: 100% Syrah
Vinification: Whole bunches, maceration for about three weeks
Maturing: 22 months in barrels of which 15% are new
Ageing: 15 – 25 years
Plots: 20 parcels of which 15 are in different locations: Fongeant, Côte Blonde, Landonne, Côte Rozier, Plomb, Chavaroche, Moutonnes, Lésardes, Gerine, Truchet, Leyat, Bonnivières, Côte Bodin, Tartaras, Rochins

About Jamet

Jean-Paul Jamet began his career in the vineyards of Côte Rôtie in 1976 at the age of 16, working with his father, Joseph, who bottled his first wine that year. Jean-Paul told us that he often found himself working alongside one of our former growers Marius Gentaz, whose vines in Côte Brune bordered his own. With the 2016 vintage, Jean-Paul celebrated his 40th year growing and vinifying Côte Rôtie. His experience with his enviable collection of sixteen (soon to be nineteen) lieux-dits spread across the best sites of the appellation has given him deep knowledge of how to unlock the greatest expression of Côte Rôtie from its wide spectrum of terroirs. This savoir-faire makes Jamet the modern day master of the appellation.

Jean-Paul Jamet is joined today at the domaine by both his wife, Corinne, and his son, Loïc.

In the Vineyard

In order to benefit from all that nature can offer, Jean-Paul considers that he and his team practise sustainable viticulture.

Respectful of the vines and the soil, the vineyard workers at Domaine Jamet work throughout the year with a minimum of intervention. Watching as the vines develop is crucial and Loïc is quick to take action.

Moreover, as Jean-Paul is in the habit of saying, growing vines in the mountains in this way commands respect.  Indeed, cultivating vines on the steep slopes of the Northern Rhône Valley teaches one humility in the face of the magnificent and challenging natural landscape that produces the singular expression of Côte Rôtie.

In the Winery

The Jamet path has been one that has stayed true to tradition as the appellation has modernized around him. Despite its popularity, Jamet always eschewed the use of excessive new oak but instead chose to maintain a cellar full of the traditional aging vessel of Côte Rôtie: the demi-muid. As the fashion to de-stem Syrah accelerated, Jamet remained firmly opposed, continuing to vinify his Syrah whole-cluster. Perhaps most importantly, Jamet remained committed to his extreme, impossibly steep and rocky, treacherously terraced parcels that could only be worked painstakingly by hand. Planting Côte Rôtie on the plateau or leveling his vineyards to be able to plant on flatter sites and work them more easily were not part of his repertoire. The Jamets have been avid planters over the past four decades, giving them an incredibly diverse collection of raw material that leaves them poised to continue making great wine uninterrupted for generations to come. Jamet also resisted the urge to produce a series of limited single vineyard cuvées, despite the ease and price at which he knew they could be sold, preferring instead to produce a representative blend of the entire appellation. The sole exception is that part of his Côte Brune vineyard is bottled apart, as he esteems this vineyard capable of providing, on its own, the synthesis of his entire cellar. His complex, balanced, age-worthy, classic Côte Rôtie bottling is the beneficiary of this philosophy.

As all of the various trends of modernization and experimentation have run their course in the appellation, Jamet’s wines are justly recognized as the pinnacle of traditional Côte Rôtie being produced today. His strategy to follow the path laid out by his ancestors before him kept him closest to what is most important: his land and its purest and most authentic expression.

Where in the Word is Jamet?

From the village of Ampuis, drive four kilometres towards the hills until you reach Domaine Jamet. This lovely drive allows you to appreciate the steep slopes of the Côte-Rôtie hills. These are the wonderful terroirs that give their character to this glorious nectar.

The Domaine Jamet lies on a plateau, known as “Le Vallin”, with a fabulous view where Mont Blanc and the Alps can be seen in good weather.